Archive for the ‘Cricket’ Category

West Indies smashed Australia around and made a total of 204 for 4. Chris Gayle remained unbeaten on 75 as the Indies rained sixes in Colombo. Unfortunately Australia never recovered and under pressure their wickets fell and they were all out for 130 or something.

First semi final between Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Well what a match that was. Sri Lanka batted first and Pakistan restricted them to 139, maybe 15 or 10 short but they way Sri Lankans came back and defended that score was brave. The partnership opened really well and a false decision by the umpire on the dismissal of Nasir Jamshed. I’m sure that will spark some controversy. Boom Boom was bowled on the first ball as usual. Umar Akmal and Umar Gul remained and tried to get 23 runs in the last over. You could see the desperation on their faces and Umar Akmal had even taken off his helmet and tried to hit and win. You almost feel sad for it how hard he tried. I’m sure Pakistan will learn some lessons from it.

Sri Lanka will face Australia or West Indies on Sunday in the final of this tournament.

A very exciting day today. Pakistan faced the unbeaten Australia in a must win game. Pakistan started off slow and paced through in the last over with some wickets in hands and made 149. Pakistan bounced back in the bowling too and Australia struggled and lost quick wickets early. Pakistan played 18 overs of spin and introduced Umar Gul in the 19th. At once Australia were looking to struggle to even reach the 112 mark which would make them qualify for the semi finals. They finally made 117. And Pakistan won by 32 runs.

But it still depended on the second game India vs South Africa. India has to beat SA by a fair margin to book a place on semis but they didn’t quite do it. India batted first and set a score of 150 or something. They were to restrict SA to 121 to go through the semis but they didn’t. India ended up beating SA by 1 run.

So that means Sri Lanka will face Pakistan in semi finals on Thursday and Australia will face West Indies on Friday. It is going to be hard and tough. And the best team will win.

What a day it has been. The most exciting in the tournament and the West Indies vs New Zealand game was the best game out of the whole tournament.

West Indies posted a decent score of 139 which New Zealand just managed to level it so it goes into super over. NZ made 17 in that over and again Southee came on to bowl for NZ. Under pressure, first ball was a no ball and Chris Gayle hit it for six. A couple of runs and another six half confirmed the seat for WI in the finals. Yes I said half because the next game if England beat Sri Lanka, the Indies are out but…

England lost to Sri Lanka and were unable to catch a massive total of 170. Samit Patel did good batting but it’s bye bye for England.

Pakistan vs India. India won by 8 wickets as well. Some brilliant batting by Yuvraj Singh and Kohli. India was in top form. Unfortunate for Pakistan. Now they have to beat Australia in their next match to stay in the tournament.

I woke up early especially to watch the Pakistan vs South Africa. Pakistan used spinners a lot and South Africa were restricted to 133. Wickets kept falling and South Africa looked most uncomfortable. In return Pakistan were going well until they lost four wickets one by one in a row. Another three went but Umar Akmal and Umar Gul established a good partnership of 50 odd runs and Pakistan won this match with struggle by two wickets.

Second game was a cracker between Australia and India. India were a bit slack in batting and they made 140 odds. Australia’s openers caught up the whole score and unlucky one out they made this a piece of cake. Will India ever regain this fall? Because it’s Pakistan vs India next. Get ready.